The Hills Have Eyes Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Wes Craven produces this remake of his 1977 classic of the same name, about the Carters, an idyllic American family travelling through the great American southwest. But their trip takes a detour into an area closed off from the public, but more importantly from society. An area originally used by the U.S. Government for nuclear testing that was intended to be empty...or so they thought? When the Carter's car breaks down at the old site, they're stranded...or are they? As the Carters may soon realize that what seemed like a car casually breaking down, might actually be a trap. This trap might be perpetrated by the inhabitants of the site who aren't pulling a prank, but are out to set up a gruesome massacre.
On a road trip through the vast emptiness of New Mexico, the Carter family (including Kathleen Quinlan, Ted Levine, Emilie de Ravin, Aaron Stanford, and Vinessa Shaw) has found themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. Asking directions from a local gas merchant, the dysfunctional unit is purposely lead into hell where a macabre band of irradiated mutants (from government nuclear testing) attack the helpless clan, forcing the few remaining survivors to spend the next day battling a mysterious, resourceful enemy, trying to stay alive when certain doom is all around them waiting in the hills of this blazing wasteland.
French director Alexandre Aja made a glorious debut with the 2003 Euro chiller, "High Tension." Admittedly, he screwed up the ending with useless twists and turns, but the core of the experience was pure, magical dread, promising a bright young talent with respect for the art of fright and fascinated with the screen power of the genre. That promise was kept for his Hollywood fat-cat debut.
An update of the 1977 feature, Aja's "Hills Have Eyes" is eager to thicken the trauma inflicted by Wes Craven over 30 years ago. I wouldn't call the earlier film a classic, but it certainly has retained a cult following -- devotees able to appreciate how Craven worked wonders with a non-existent budget and a screenplay geared toward shock value entertainment. Aja has a few more tricks up his sleeve, along with more coin and wonderful make-up work from KNB, ready to viciously and extensively realize the mutant rampage. Craven was looking to simply scare some folks with blunt violence and a lecture on the primal nature of man. Aja's effort is an absolute declaration of war.
First and foremost, Aja isn't afraid to creep out his audience, and "Eyes" might upset some with its extreme splatter violence and orgy of suffering. Like Rob Zombie's 2005 corker, "The Devil's Rejects," the latest "Hills" is a stout genre concoction, slapping around the MPAA's guidelines with ferocious depictions of murder and torment. The movie doesn't shy away from presenting the appalling menace and greasy strength of the mutants, nor does it turn a blind eye when the Carters attempt to even the score with guns, baseball bats, axes, or whatever else they can get their trembling hands on. Since Aja has the benefit of hindsight, his "Hills" is much more claustrophobic in locations (it was shot in the far reaches of Morocco) and story design. The film drags the viewer by the hair, kicking and screaming into doom. In 1977, Craven was simply summoning up the gumption to suggest it. A lot has changed over the years.
While given ample opportunity to muck around with the original script, Aja plays his version fairly close to the original effort. There is a greater expansion on the particulars of the mutant family, who live in a ghostly, neglected mannequin community once used to test how nuclear weapons would affect 1950's suburbia. While we meet more of the clan in this outing, their dialog is cut down severely, thus elevating the scare factor and emphasizing their horrifying deformities and thirst for blood. Sure, the magic of Michael Berryman is missed, but what Aja dishes up here is sheer terror, not a parade of oddity. These cannibals are fierce creatures and Aja contorts them into a substantial, monumentally icky threat.
Not tickling me quite as much is Aja's insistence on cheap scares for the first half of the film. Clearly, the sinister story doesn't need such repetitive counterfeit jolts, but the director trots them out with an unmistakable display of pride. The rest of "Hills Have Eyes" has enough nightmare imagery to ruin bedtime for the remainder of the year, which promptly ends the need to keep the audience percolating, but the damage is already done.
Lost in Aja's interpretation is the character arc of Doug (Stanford), who in Craven's film was "the larger idea": the mousy pacifist turned into a bloodthirsty killer. Aja still plays around with those contradictory extremes, but he pushes the character into more brazenly iconic realms. Here Doug is handed the finest in Sergio Leone-esque encouragement, complete with rattling Morricone guitars on the soundtrack (a vital part of the tremendous score by tomandandy) and some scrappy moments of sun-drenched heroism. The madness of Doug provides a needed thrill for the final act of the movie, but lacks any psychologically profound impact.
The AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation creates an evocative feeling of isolation and heat exhaustion, offering excellent HD clarity during the film's daylight encounters, which floods the image with a bright, crisp appearance. Colors are saturated and sturdy, with blood reds (which end up the dominate hue in the finale) registering profoundly, while desert golds and browns also make a significant impression, generating the essential southwest ambiance. Blacks are only of moderate concern, offering more of an inky appearance when the sun goes down, though nothing is completely obscured. Detail is excellent throughout, exploring tremendous human concern and gruesome encounters, with the body trauma and mutant particulars creating a vivid BD image, where all the make-up details and horror confrontations are handed their proper fear factor. Skintones are stable, and a few print nicks were detected.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix is a generous event that truly keeps the ears engaged as the film goes about its rampage. Directional activity is excellent, creating a haunting circular impression with stalking mutants, empty canyon movement (nice echoes here), and direct stabs of violence. There's also a hefty atmospheric feel as well, with the locations giving off a subtle sizzle and blistering shine, assisting the sweatbox hold of the movie. Low-end is consistent, providing the brutality with a heavy thump, also plumping the editorial chaos some. Dialogue exchanges are crisp and clean, capturing the tension and distress with a moderately rounded feel, achieving the group dynamic without introducing any shrillness, offering heavy, separate voices that maintain the tension. Mutant grunts and groans are also well cared for, elevated slightly to retain intimidation. It's a film of gunshots, beatings, and general gory commotion, offering the listener a smorgasbord of aural textures and wallops, with everything properly communicated on this track.
Audio Commentary #1 with writer/director Alexandre Aja, writer/art director Gregory Levasseur, and producer Marianna Maddalena is a jovial chat, concentrating on the technical details of the frame and the challenges of creating a horror picture in the middle of nowhere, rolling film during an unforgiving summer. Aja leads the conversation, happily revealing directorial secrets, examining his feature with a concentration on the digital and practical tricks required to bring the macabre material to life. There's also talk of thespian achievements and story structure, with Levasseur adding satisfactory support with his own anecdotes, while Maddalena acts as more of a moderator, asking sharp questions.
Audio Commentary #2 with producers Wes Craven and Peter Locke is perhaps best suited for die-hard fans of the original film or those who can stomach the pair's tedious sense of humor. Locke appears to have spent significant time with the production, making him the more insightful personality of the commentary, and he does a competent job articulating his experience making the picture. Craven wasn't even on set, rendering his comments useless, though he tries, cracking awful jokes and making fun of people. The track doesn't offer anything beyond Aja's commentary, outside of a few recollections from the original "Hills Have Eyes" shoot.
"Surviving the Hills" (50:25, SD) is a pleasingly extensive making-of mini-documentary that excitedly explores the formation of the remake, using cast and crew interviews to explore the arduous production process, which took the crew to Morocco to recreate the American southwest. The conversations are recorded on-set and during the junket process, which doesn't lead to a truly invigorating postmortem on the picture, but the energy level is high, especially from Aja, who seems like he really valued his chance to rework one of his favorite movies. Talk of stunt achievements, creature design, practical and CGI work (including the creation of the blood and guts), baby taming, and actor motivation is included, creating a satisfying outline of the creative drive, with plenty of BTS footage to devour.
Production Diaries (11:09, SD) are brief blasts of BTS visits, meeting the cast and crew on the set of the picture, watching as they manufacture the gruesome highlights. Unlike the sweeping "Surviving the Hills," these featurettes cover odd little production asides, including scorpion wrangling, gore manufacturing, and weather concerns. Some footage is repeated, but the majority of the material is fresh and interesting.
"Leave the Broken Heart" (3:36, SD) is a music video from The Finalist. Yes, "The Hills Have Eyes" had a promotional music video. And no, I've never heard of The Finalist either.
A Theatrical Trailer (2:25, HD) has been included.
It's always tough to get behind a horror remake, most are so absurd and needless. However, Aja has chosen a movie that was ripe for a second chance, and I feel he's made a better piece of cinema as a result. "The Hills Have Eyes" might not have the sneak attack appeal of the original film or its provocative human questioning, but it cooks in ways Craven should be jealous of.
Blu-ray bundles with The Hills Have Eyes (1 bundle)
